Fortnite Season 8 is almost a week old, and the new V8.01 update for the popular battle royale title went officially live on all platforms on Wednesday, March 6. Here’s everything you need to know about the patch, including the new Buried Treasure Item and which items have been placed into the game’s vault!

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Epic Games have released the official patch notes for the update, giving fans a closer look at the Buried Teasure map, along with revealing a number of balancing updates that affect certain weapon’s spawn rates, audio changes and the vaulting of one of Forntite’s most recent additions.

When is the v8.01 update coming out?

The V8.01 patch for Fortnite is scheduled to go live at 09:00 GMT (04:00 EST, 01:00 PST). This update will require downtime, which is likely to last around an hour and a half.

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What’s new?

Buried Treasure Item

One item we definitely know we will see in the V8.01 update is the Buried Treasure Item, which was officially announced by Epic Games on Monday, March 4.

The item will act like a treasure map used by pirates, directing players to the location of a buried chest, which can then be dug out and opened, granting players Legendary loot to help them on their quest for a Victory Royale. The buried chests must be dug up using a pickaxe, and players will only be able to hold one map at a time. 

Audio Changes

Also expected to be included in the V8.01 update will be a host of audio improvements, after continuing complaints from Fortnite players about the quality of game sound. Weapons, building, footsteps and gliders will all receive major improvements in terms of audio quality according to a Reddit post by Epic Games.

The V8.01 patch notes confirmed that changes have been made to the standard Assault Rifle to make it less overbearing, while also making significant improvements to the way players hear enemy footsteps. 

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Weapon Balancing

Epic Games have also toyed with the spawn rates of a couple of the
game’s weapons, reducing the regularity of which items like the Infantry
Rifle and the Clinger grenade will spawn around the map.

Bottle Rockets

Fortnite’s
Bottle Rockets were only added to the game on February 5, but just one
month later they have already been removed and placed inside the game’s
vault. For Fortnite fans who enjoyed the item, there is always hope that
it may reappear in the future, as Epic Games are always quick to state
that any item taken out of the game is never removed permanently.

Other Changes

The
V8.01 update brings a new Limited Time Mode named Slide Duos, which
sees players attempting to play with ice blocks on their feet, while
having a Grappler with infinite ammo in their Inventory. The update also
introduced new Guantlet Solo and Duo Test tournaments, which will run
continuously until 00:00 GMT (16:00 PST, 19:00 EST). 

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Fortnite V8.01 patch notes

Gameplay

• Increased the angle at which you can slide down terrain without taking damage from 65 degrees to 75 degrees.

Limited Time Mode: Slide Duos

Summary

Ice blocks on everyone’s feet, infinite ammo Grapplers in everyone’s inventory – a recipe for a slippery good time!

Mode Details

• Friction greatly lowered.
• Max run speed greatly raised.
• Falling damage removed.
• Infinite ammo Grapplers added to everyone’s inventory.

Weapons + Items

• Buried Treasure
  • It’s a map that is used to track down buried chests on the map.
    • Chests contain a trove of legendary loot.
    • X marks the spot! The chest must be dug up using a pickaxe.
  • There is a limit of one map held at a time.
  • Legendary Rarity.
  • Can be found from Floor Loot and Chests.
• Reduced Infantry Rifle availability
  • Reduced the chance of receiving an Infantry Rifle from Chests from 14.41% to 13.39%
  • Reduced the chance of receiving an Infantry Rifle from Floor Loot from 2.41% to 2.24%
• Reduced Clinger availability
  • Reduced the chance of receiving Clinger’s from Chests from 9.42% to 5.52%
  • Reduced the chance of receiving Clinger’s from Floor Loot from 1.27% to 1.02%
• Vaulted
  • Bottle Rockets

Events

• New Tournament: Gauntlet Solo Test Event & Gauntlet Duo Test Event
  • We are running a new type of tournament as a test of several format updates.
  • Extended Hours: This event consists of a single session which lasts until March 9th 00:00 GMT.
    • Due to the extended hours for this event, Duo players will each have their own score that remains when changing partners.
    • Note: Due to the playlist featuring matchmaking based on your score, the quality or availability of matches may differ at certain times of day.
  • Updated Scoring:
    • Match Limit: None
    • Bus Fare: -2 Points
      • Each match played will reduce your score by two points in the form of a ‘Bus Fare’ at the start of the match.
      • Tournament scores cannot go into the negatives – at the end of a match, if a player has a negative score for the tournament then their score will be reset to zero points.
    • Victory Royale: +3 Points (+10 Total)
    • 2nd – 5th: +2 Points (+7 Total)
    • 6th – 10th: +2 Points (+5 Total)
    • 11th – 25th: +3 Points (+3 Total)
    • Each Elimination: +1 Point
  • Matchmaking:
    • Players are still matchmade against opponents with similar point totals.
    • Matchmaking will wait for up to 8 minutes before creating a match with the closest players available.
    • Matchmaking will search in a considerably wider points range after 4 minutes of searching.
  • At the conclusion of the Gauntlet Test Event, the Top 5% of players based on their final score will unlock the ‘Gauntlet Finals’ tournament.
• New Tournament: Gauntlet Solo Finals & Gauntlet Duo Finals
  • Scheduled 3-hour event, check tournament in-game for your local time.
    • Note: NA East and NA West are now separate for scheduled tournaments, and no longer share a leaderboard. 
  • Scoring:
    • Match Limit: 10 Games
    • Victory Royale: +3 Points (+10 Total)
    • 2nd – 5th: +2 Points (+7 Total)
    • 6th – 10th: +2 Points (+5 Total)
    • 11th – 25th: +3 Points (+3 Total)
    • Each Elimination: +1 Point
  • Top 3000 players in each server region will advance to Round 2 on Sunday during same time block.

Audio

• Improvement to the standard AR sound so that it’s not overbearing on the shooter.
• The sound made when a player destroys a structure is now louder when instigated by enemies.
• Footstep audio blends in the above/below layers, rather than binarily switching between them.
• Footstep occlusion traces from the head of enemies when they’re above or below.
• Reduced the volume of the Season 8 Victory Umbrella.
• The Season 8 Victory Umbrella now uses the correct sound on Mobile/Switch.

Mobile

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue when pressing the fire button with 2 fingers causes fire action to continuously loop.

Creative

What’s New?

Saved Sprays

Give your island even more personality using sprays! The limit of 3 per island is a thing of the past.

Islands

• Sprays are now saved! Use your sprays to decorate.
  • Removed the 3 spray limit, now each spray has a small cost on the memory thermometer.

Gameplay

Bug Fixes

• Fixed issue where Nintendo Switch Consoles can Desync with 16 players on a Creative Server.

Weapons + Items

• Added the Drum Gun
• Added the Tactical Submachine Gun

Prefabs

• Added All New Elemental Cube Gallery – beginning with 4 variations of water.
• Added new Bridge and Girder Galleries in a variety of colors.
• Added new Obstacle Course Galleries in a variety of colors.
• Added new Visualizer Gallery XL – now you can go big with your music!

Devices

Bug Fixes

• Billboard Device will now update immediately when changes are made.
• Billboard Device will no longer be able to bypass the Language Filter.
• Player Spawn Pads will no longer be removed when destroying the supporting floor tile.

Save The World

What’s New?

Highland Warrior Wildcat

There can only be one! Pull the Pin and snag this Soldier while it’s available in the Weekly Store.

UI

Bug Fixes

• Fixed hero loadout information sometimes showing placeholder data.
• Fixed the collection book unslot button being unavailable if you
  have a free unslot but do not have enough currency to unslot like you
  would regularly. It never charged currency for free slots, but would not
  be accessible without having enough currency.

Heroes

Bug Fixes

• Corrected an issue which caused Bulletstorm Jonesy’s abilities to
  be unlocked in the incorrect order. He should now gain Warcry at 1 star,
  Goin’ Commando at 2 stars, and Frag Grenade at 3 stars as intended.
• Corrected an issue which reset the cooldown of Mantis Leap mid-air during certain weapon interactions.
  • Staying airborne for minutes at time is fun, however,  this was an
    unintended interaction. We want to make sure we’re responsible about
    how we implement vertical gameplay and after seeing such a strong
    positive response we’ll be looking for more ways to introduce this type
    of gameplay in the future.
• Fixed an issue where Keen Eyes created collision with some enemies

Gameplay

Bug Fixes

• Fixed wall sometimes being built when using mouse to pick a trap from the trap picker.

 

General

Bug Fixes

• When motion blur is turned on for consoles that support it (Xbox
  One X or the Playstation 4 Pro), it will now properly take effect.